


Spinel Hiatusverse: Steven Hiatusverse Canon ‘Crossover’

by needforsuv



Series: Steven Universe Extended Hiatusverse [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Feel-good, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Hiatus, Hugs, Humor, Kisses, Meta, Multi, Other, Spoilers, Tears, discussions, lots of comfort, lots of fluff, self-aware
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-06 21:17:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20513633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needforsuv/pseuds/needforsuv
Summary: The movie was good, but I expected more after CYM… so I’m writing my ‘troubles’ away. I just find it weird that some things changed but others didn’t as much…But the theme is about change, so you never know…Spinel and the Diamonds come to terms with the hiatus, again; and they take itvery, very badly.Thankfully, they know exactly what to do (and who to visit) to make them feel better.





	1. This can’t be right!

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m kinda disappointed Steven didn’t give Spinel a hug and become friends. Steven was a PLANCK LENGTH away from a hug, but the Diamonds… ALSO NO DIAMOND MOMS FOR STEVEN?! WHAT A TRAVESTY!
> 
> Homeworld and the Colonies have changed so much, but…
> 
> I feel like some things went a bit _sideways_ since CYM, but I’m sure things will work out in the end. BUT I NEED THIS!!!!!!!!!
> 
> (If you’re NOT into Diamonds being moms for Steven, I guess it won’t hit you so hard.)
> 
> ALSO, NOT ENOUGH CONNVERSE!!! ( And no Stevonnie :( )
> 
> ALSO, _ALSO_, if Spinel was Pink Diamond’s playmate, then WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE PINK PEARL?! It’s almost like the movie is half-canon… WHY YOU DO THIS TO US SUGAR?! You make us suffer, and then give us more happiness… I can’t… someone just read this, please!
> 
> (Sorry if things are a bit ‘messy’… I have been hospitalised with Stage 42 Hiatusitis, the doctors say I might not make it…)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel and the Diamonds catch up (on the show).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did she have to be a ‘Pink’ ‘replacement’? I get the Diamonds want to love, but… (CYM set the bar a bit high…)

“I can’t believe this!” Spinel wailed as she watched the curtains close on the film, “I-I…”

“Oh Spinel…” The three Diamonds cooed as they turned off the TV in the palace, hugging the small pink gem close to them, “It’s okay… NO, THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT!”

Tears spilled from all their eyes.

“We certainly adore you Spinel, and we love you!”

“I love you too…” She replied, sniffling as they kissed each other, “But-but…”

“The ending… leaves so much to be desired after Change Your Mind…” White stated,

“It does,” All worded in agreement, “It really does…”

It had seemed as if the Diamonds would certainly become Steven’s newest moms – the season 5 finale had all but set it up –s, and even ‘_if_’ Sugar had everything planned out… it was the one Steven Universe ‘concession’ they had felt was so sorely absent. No doubt, Spinel would make a return in season 6, and Steven will finally get the love he deserves from the diamonds, but for now… They much face the ‘realities’ of the Hiatus that is once again upon them…

“I honestly thought Steven couldn’t get enough of new moms…” Blue stated somewhat solemnly, “But…”

“Maybe we _had_ been a little pushy in the movie…”

“But Sunbeam, STEVEN, Starlight, he’d be the LAST person to _NOT_ love it…”

“You’re right, White,” Yellow nodded as Spinel played with Blue’s hair, “But I guess he also has friends and family on that beautiful planet.”

“Earth is wonderful, isn’t it… everything that’s happened… was because of it…”

“Speaking of which, White… maybe we should pay him a visit? See how he’s going…”

“Wow, that’s a great idea, Moonbeam!” Spinel imitated White, “Why let’s go right now!”

Stifling a giggle, White Diamond led the way to their combined ships.

“That,” She said, “Never gets old…”

And so, off they went to Earth, again…

However, before they even made it halfway to the ships, Spinel stretched out and stopped in front of the diamonds.

“Quickkkk Questionnnn… How did I even receive the message?”

“Um…” Yellow pondered, before coming up a bit blank, “I mean it kind of looked like a diamond communicator, but…”

“It was from Era one, and we can’t have possibly _not_ broadcast anything from the time she had abandoned you to…” Blue mused softly.

Some things just didn’t quite add up, and the more they thought…

“Get a move on already!” Yellow Pearl shouted over the intercom, breaking them out of their ‘stupor’, “Everything is waiting for your sorry asses!”

“If you don’t go, we might just _steal_ it for ourselves and go see Steven!” Blue Pearl quipped.

“There’s literally a wrap pad… right there!”

“We know Spinel, catch you later!” They replied, turning the speakers off just as they had started laughing uncontrollably.

“Yeah, _catch_ you later…” Spinel said as she made a net with her hands, the diamonds once again laughing.

“They’re both so much like her, and yet… different…”

“That’s why they’re both so special!”

“Exactly!”

**### ** **━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━** ** ###**

Earth was already set as one of their favourites, so pulling up the navigational data took only took a single press of a button. Homeworld was once again in the hands of the Pearls, and that was just fine. Since the events of Diamond Days, they had really come out of their shells (so to speak), being unafraid to speak their minds and quip back at their former superiors.

Yellow Pearl, as expected, was much like Yellow Diamond herself, and together with Blue Pearl, they reminded the bicolour diamonds so much of their younger (and now current) selves.

As the ship made its way towards the Earth, they once again resumed their discussions about the movie and hiatus itself…

“It’s certainly a change…”

“What? The movie?”

“Yeah…”

“A lot has changed on Homeworld, Yellow; the freed gems, all the new freedoms – freedom of expression without fear of punishment, fusion, leisure, _actual_ rest… –, and then there’s our opening song…”

“Nicely done and positive inspiring,” Spinel said, smiling brightly, “Why it’d fit right in amongst Earth’s many fairy tales!”

“Except we were anything but worthy…” Yellow giggled, ruffling Spinel’s hair, “But he did all give us a chance, didn’t he?”

“Again, yes he did…” Blue and White smiled, “And we need to show him that…”

Their thoughts focused on their depiction in the movie; how they reeked of neediness and desperation… for love…

“It’s funny…” Yellow said, warping her arms her fellow diamonds, “We went from husks of gems, drowning unknowingly in misery, to being so needy when it comes to love… that we _begged_ for it… pushed for it… and I feel like part of our personalities may have taken a step sideways – _backwards _even…”

“It is odd… we have no problem letting our former gems do whatever they desire on Homeworld or whatever whenever wherever – provided it isn’t destructive… and yet all we did was wish for things to be the ‘same’ with us.”

“I honestly thought we _were_ Steven’s family after the events of Change Your Mind,” Blue spoke softly, “Maybe we might’ve gotten a bit carried away…”

“You bet!”

“But he does see us as family,” White cooed, “We just didn’t quite show it…”

“We had pushed _Rose_ away because we didn’t care about her feelings… All she wanted to do was have fun and make us happy – be a family together… When Steven returned and reunited us… we were so happy…”

“_Very_ happy, White… Engrossed in it all, two years later, our movie selves seemed to have forgotten he isn’t ours alone…”

“Stars…” Blue gasped, “You’re right… We ‘forgot’ about his amazing friends and family, even when we made it known in the storybook! We probably ‘pushed’ him ‘away’ by _ignoring _his feelings again…”

“Now, now… Moonlight, we definitely knew those feelings… As does he know ours. We just… enjoyed spending time together with Starlight so much…”

“We were _starved_, and now freed as we are… we wanted to feast, forever… And maybe we’ll get there one day…”

“A lot has changed…” Spinel spoke up, “But I guess the happiness may’ve gotten to Steven as well… After all, he managed to get you out of your shells, ‘only’ to warp away at the most important moment, leaving you discontent as you were… Without even hugging you!”

“We know! Maybe we would’ve been fine by ourselves, but…”

“You both knew 2 years isn’t enough to make up for almost 6000 years of sadness. Movie him could’ve at least make an effort to work out visiting schedules, acknowledge and say things out loud… and movie you could’ve ‘remembered’ more…”

“We and Steven may not have work ahead of us, maybe we do… We’re family, and there is definitely _some _dysfunction there… as does most things in his life… But we’re here now… getting, changing for the better…”

“We are!” Spinel beamed, “Now we all know change isn’t something to be afraid of… So what if there isn’t someone there besides you three sometimes… They aren’t going anywhere – literally a warp away… –, and you could always visit at any time! There’s more than enough love for us all to share, we just have to not let anything cloud or stop us…”

What Spinel said couldn’t be any truer. Both the Diamonds and Steven in the movie (at least initially) had ‘excluded’ the possibility of ‘_more_’ changes, focusing on just their ‘own’ immediate spheres when in reality; it overlapped a lot more than they thought… Steven certainly isn’t going to stop spreading love everywhere, so why does it matter if it’s Earth, Homeworld, or wherever that he spends his time. It doesn’t matter, because as long as it does not exclude any members of his family and friends, it was definitely something that all would want changes to steer them towards – if they weren’t already partly there, and missed – overshot – it.

Maybe they wouldn’t indulge in adoration, maybe they would (definitely)… _Whatever_ the case, the journey would certainly be filled with love, hugs, kisses, surprising, and _lots_ of wonderful moments…

**### ** **━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━** ** ###**

As they entered the solar system, another thought ‘surfaced’ in their minds.

“I wonder if Connie will be there…” Blue mused, “We didn’t exactly leave on the _best_ of notes… And I can’t believe they didn’t show – or there wasn’t – more Connverse in the movie!”

“I know!” Yellow exclaimed, “We will make sure we do things better and not just… do what Steven did at the beginning… We’ll learn… AND I’m getting carried away… they’re _so_ cute together, and I feel…”

“Somewhat betrayed?” Spinel suggested.

“Precisely! Movie us was one thing, but seeing the kiss on the cheek, the blush, and… almost nothing…”

“Guess we’ll all be hopeless together…”

“We will…” The diamonds giggled as Spinel turned to admire the planets.

_Here we are in the future._

_So much has changed; it is true._

_Yet, we might still be,_

_Just as hopeless._

_We have lost,_

_We have loved,_

_We have rediscovered happiness._

_They have gained,_

_They have changed,_

_They have learned._

_No such thing as happily ever after._

_Because it is never-ending,_

_Love always spreading,_

_Family, Friends, and so much more._

_Maybe someday, when the Universe is at peace,_

_We can say it is happily ever after._

_But that doesn’t mean things won’t change._

_Together, we can make the most of it all,_

_Embrace, embody, and cherish…_

_As we build even better futures together…_

_Gems, Humans, Aliens, or whoever else,_

_It doesn’t matter; we have found the truth that we already know,_

_Love, family, friends, and more…_

_Fills life with joy, happiness, and everything good…_

_We may be getting there,_

_But the Universe awaits,_

_For the true kind of love…_

_The true kind of love…_

_Everyone deserves it…_

_Here we are in the future, and yes, it is bright…_

_But it can, and will, get so much brighter…_

_Piecing through darkness, lighting up the universe…_

_Our Amazing Universe…_


	2. We’re all friends here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel and the Diamonds arrive on Earth, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sabina, Sadie, Sardonyx, Skinny, Spinel, Steven, Stevonnie, Sugilite, S. SUGAR!! (I may have lost it…)

Descending though the atmosphere, Spinel and the Diamonds could see that things were already (mostly) back to ‘normal’ – _not _broken, in other words. As soon as they opened the nostrils to equalise the pressure (they could otherwise, but this is an experience), the ship flooded with every conceivable organic scent.

“It smells…” Yellow sniffed, smiling, “WONDERFUL! The flowers, organic life… it’s so… Earthly! And NOT a hint of fertiliser thanks to Steven’s powers… Say what you will, but _that_ is the one scent _nobody_ likes…”

“Unless you’re Dung Beetles!”

“Yeah, unless you’re them…”

“So that’s what Bio-Poison and death smelled like…” Blue muttered, “I never want to smell it again if I could! It’s HORRIBLE!”

“Then we won’t, Moonlight. We will make sure nothing like that happens again, not if we can help it.”

“So… Did Steven kiss the whole planet or what…?” Spinel asked, recalling what he did.

“That,” Blue giggled, “Would be _one_ way of doing it… But not very _practical_…”

“That’s Starlight for ya…”

It hadn’t even occurred to them that they had landed already, and were disembarking via a summoned bubble…

A _small_ knock on its surface ‘alerted’ them to this fact…

“Oh, hi?” Steven called out, “Are you guys here to see me or…”

“Of course we’re here to see you Steven, my precious Starlight!” White cooed as she dropped the bubble, revealing the trio and Spinel, “And this time, we’ll really sort things out…”

“Oh good!” He smiled characteristically, “I was just getting started with the Hiatus!”

“Glad we’re on the same page,” Yellow and Blue said, “What kind of family are we, leaving just like that… without…?”

“I guess I shouldn’t have left you like that either…”

“I’m sorry…” Steven, the Diamonds, and Spinel said all at the same time, “I should’ve… We…”

They broke down into giggles as words failed them.

“I love you guys… and I’m sorry if movie me made it look like…”

“Shh…” The Diamonds shushed as they scooped him up for a hug, “We know… we love you too… and so do the gems and everyone else… All of us are equally important to you…”

“You should know…” Spinel cooed, smitten by the show of love, “You taught them.”

“Spinel?” Steven asked as the diamonds stopped hugging and kissing them and put them down on the ground.

“Yes Steven?”

“There’s something I wanted to tell you, before the Diamonds arrived that day…”

“What is it?”

“You didn’t mess things up with me Spinel,” He told her as drops of tears formed in the corner of her eyes, “…Well you did, but… I still want to be friends with you, get to know you, and maybe just find out more about my mom – even if she wasn’t the best gem, person, or friend… It’s just… _you know_… That is, if you still want to be friends, I unders…”

“OF COURSE I DO, STEVEN!” Spinel exclaimed as she tackled Steven into a genuine hug, “I swore that was about to happen in the movie…”

Tears flowed down both their eyes, Blue Diamond playing no part in it.

“Me too Spinel, me too…” He whispered as he returned the hug, rubbing her back soothingly, “Honestly, we’re all friends here… Especially Jasper… so that was just a bit confusing…”

“You’re telling me! You can’t believe how many lines I had to ‘read’ between until I finally understood everything…”

“Still faster than Peridot with the Kindergarten incident!”

“Obviously, silly… it’s a movie!” Spinel laughed as Steven did the same, thus cementing their friendship.

In retrospect, some parts of the plot did make little sense… as well as leaving things to be desired…

However, they were in the Hiatus(verse) now, where everything will turn out just fine… (Like canon will eventually, but honestly, that would be too long – especially for them… and the fans/fandom…)

They were so deep in the hug that they barely registered Lion opening a portal next to them…

“Hey Steven…” Connie began, before noticing the two in a deep hug…, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Connie?” Steven broke away to look at his Jam Bud, “…Of course you’re not interrupting…”

“I don’t think we’ve properly met,” The girl said as she extended her hand.

“OH MY GOSH, you’re right!”

“Steven…”

“Spinel, this is my best friend, Strawberry, and Jam Bud, Connie Maheswaran; Connie this is Spinel, Pink Diamond’s old playmate that she left in a space garden for 6000 years and never came back for until…” Steven blurted just like he used to with so many things – it was endearing, really.

“Nice to meet you, Spinel,” Connie smiled wide, taking Spinel’s hand into her own and shaking it.

“Nice to meet you too, Connie.” Spinel beamed, scooping them both into another one of her hugs, “YAY, Best friends FOREVER and ever and ever… I won’t leave you and you won’t leave me; we’ll be so happy together as the bestest friends ever!”

“Sure, Friends!” They beamed, giggling between themselves, “Forever and ever! As long as you don’t mind…”

“THE MORE FRIENDS THE BETTER! SPINEL WILL HAVE ALL THE FRIENDS!!!”

Spinel’s enthusiasm despite everything was really something to admire and love – even if she was overdoing it a bit for humour’s sake… Steven and Connie knew that her feelings and friendship are true, and even if she needed more attention (like the Diamonds), they would work through it together, because that’s what real friends (and family) do; they stick by you, no matter what – especially when they need you.

However, as with most Steven Universe characters, Spinel still had questions after her ‘arc’…

“Steven, be honest with me… do you…”

“Like you better before?” He finished.

“Yeah…”

“NOPE!” He exclaimed, surprising her and the Diamonds slightly (but not Connie), “I like you better now Spinel!”

“Really?” She asked, curious.

“Yep! You’re good just the way you are… The _past_ you was… kind of annoying… There’s time for fun, games, hugs, and love – as friends –, but sometimes you just… have to be serious… Maybe if I had been a baby, it would’ve been different… But things don’t stay the same forever… That wasn’t the real you… The past, what happened… made you into who you are today…”

“He’s right,” Yellow spoke up, “You have so much more character now because of it, and you’ve grown, just like Steven has…”

“All we can do is to not let the past drag us down, but make better decisions because of it,” Blue and White joined in, “In other words, remember the past, but don’t live in it; only by opening our eyes can we make a brighter future together… And that’s _more_ than enough, wouldn’t you say?”

“More than enough,” Steven, Connie, and Spinel echoed, smiling.

“Then let’s work towards that.”

“Right!”


	3. ‘Burning’ Questions and Amazing Hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more questions are ‘raised’…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because when you’re self-aware, you aren’t bound by what you know ‘in-person/on-screen’.

“Steven…” Spinel asked sweetly, “What exactly was in the chest in your Lion’s mane?”

“Yeah, Steven… the viewers have been wondering all about it, but… we just saw it open like that…”

“Um…”

“He obviously doesn’t know, but Rebecca Sugar does!” Yellow quipped, “She knows _everything_ and it IS JUST SO INFURIATING SOMETIMES…”

“Yeah… I would’ve thought there’d be a reveal or something… Maybe in season 6?”

“Look on the bright side, Starlight; at least you aren’t alone in that regard…”

“I suppose you could look at it that way…”

“That’s the spirit, Steven. Don’t think about what you _don’t _know, focus on what you do!”

“Thanks Connie…” Steven replied as they hugged.

Seeing them in person once more, the Diamonds were as emotional as ever…

“Aww… just look at them Yellow… They’re so cute!”

“Thanks!”

“They are cute!” Yellow exclaimed, picking the three up for a combined hug.

“Steven… I’m…”

“Hush now, little one…” White cooed as they peppered kisses over all of them (especially Connie), “And let us adore you… Let us love you… We love you, Connie; I hope you haven’t forgotten…”

The girl blushed and eagerly returned the affection, “No I haven’t… I love you too!”

“See Steven, this isn’t so bad!” Connie and Spinel exclaimed.

“I know! Movie me mustn’t have be thinking straight!”

“Well, if you _did_ spend two whole years mostly with the diamonds…”

“It doesn’t mean I love this any less… Because I do love this!”

“Or course you do, you’re Steven!”

Things may have changed, but Steven was still undeniably a hugger and a kid at heart. His mind may still be racing with thoughts from the movie, but together, they would make it through yet another hiatus.

Thinking about the hiatus had led their thoughts towards the one who’d likely be the most affected…

“PINK PEARL!” Steven shouted, “OH MY GOSH… Where was she?!”

“She wasn’t in the movie?!” Yellow gasped, “Blue and Yellow Pearl made it, but…”

“Nope…” Connie shook her head, “I barely counted to begin with…”

“Who is this ‘Pink Pearl’ you speak of?” Spinel formed a question mark with her arm as she scratched her head with the other, “I’ve heard of Crystal Gem Pearl, but not ‘Pink Pearl’…”

“IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW!”

“Does it, Steven, _does_ it…? Think harder…”

Raking through his thoughts and what he knew, Steven had to admit Connie was right; it really didn’t make much sense to him. If Ronaldo was here…

“Spinel, she was mom’s original Pearl, pink like she and you are… They… played together in the palace, did things diamonds and pearls ‘weren’t’ ‘supposed’ to do…”

“Sounds fun?”

“BUT IF SPINEL was mom’s playmate… THEN WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE PINK PEARL?! I thought they _were_ playmates…”

“Well yes, more or less…” Yellow and White confirmed, “So it does make sense that you _might_n’t have met…”

“Because either of us might’ve gotten jealous?”

“Exactly Spinel…” Steven patted her back, “Are you okay?”

“I am… the garden _had_ been Rose and mine’s alone… So… what happened to her? Your story didn’t mention anything about it…”

“That’s because…” White solemnly stated, “I took her away some time before she got her colony, because I thought _she_ was the ‘bad influence’… when in fact, _Rose_ was… I controlled her, puppeted her around for almost six millennia… When I released her, she found her eye broken with no memory of it all…”

“That sounds TERRIBLE!”

“It is Spinel! Between that, being stuck in a mirror, or left alone for 6000 years… At least your warp pad still works… you could’ve just… left…”

“I could’ve… but we’re here now Steven!”

“You and Pink Pearl would definitely be AWESOME friends.”

“I bet!” Connie exclaimed, “She LOVES having fun like you, it’d be great since you know… You won’t be ‘competing’ for attention…”

“Speaking of which…” Spinel said as the diamonds put them down, raising an eyebrow at the pair, “Steven…”

“Connie… about that kiss…” He said somewhat meekly – it was something he had to get out…

“What about it?” The girl blushed slightly.

“You-I… are we…” 

“Of course we are, Biscuit!”

As Connie’s lips touched Steven’s, a distinctive kissing sound could be heard. Immediately, Steven’s face lit up bright red as he blushed.

“Aww… his face is redder than a tomato…” The Diamonds cooed, smiling adoringly.

Even as his blush faded though, he seemed frozen.

“Um Steven?” Connie waved her hands in front of him to no effect.

“Hello…?” Spinel tapped his noggin, “Anyone in there?”

No response…

“Earth to STEVEN?!” Spinel raised her voice, frantically waving her arms in all directions in front of the teen, “Do you copy?”

Again, he didn’t move.

“Oh no… I think I broke Steven… Whatever will I do?”

“Whatever will we do indeed…?”

“Don’t worry…” Spinel reassured Connie and the Diamonds, giving them a confident smile, “I think I know _just _the trick…”

“Alright…”

Wrapping her arms around the teen, she lifted him about a meter into the air, and began shaking him vigorously…

“Wooooaaaahh…” His eyeballs rolled around like marbles as he was set down, but it had worked, “Connie…”

“Steven…” She smiled.

Without wasting a second, Steven pressed his lips against Connie’s, sealing them tight together as he made the _loudest_ smooching sound ever. Subconsciously, Connie wrapped her arms around him as he did the same, and soon, an intense pink glow poured out in between them…

The glow was bright, intense, and unmistakable. All around, eyes were as wide as they can be…

As the glow faded, only one fused being remained, their arms firmly wrapped around themselves.

“I love you, Stevonnie. _I love you too, Stevonnie._” They said to themselves, still overfilled with love and joy, “This… feels _so _good… _It does…_”

“WOW…” Spinel’s jaw dropped in awe, stirring them from their own conversation…

“Hey Spinel!” They said with overflowing enthusiasm as they hugged the gem, “It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

“It’s nice to finally meet you too, Stevonnie,” She replied as her arms snaked like vines around the fusion.

“Hehe…” They giggled as first, Spinel wrapped her arms all around them, and second, the diamonds scooped them all up in an even bigger hug, “I feel so happy!”

“Of course you do… We’re all here and we all love each other!” White beamed, “We love you, Stevonnie, our most precious Starlight!”

“Aww… Love you too mom!” Stevonnie replied as they kissed each of them, “You all mean so much to me and…”

“Hush now, Pink,” Blue smiled, kissing them as the others followed, “It’s hug time for mommy…”

“Yeah…” They exhaled blissfully, “So Spinel… what’d ya think?”

“YOUR HUGS ARE AWESOME Stevonnie, beyond amazing, in fact…”

“Gee… thanks!”

“Aww…” She blushed slightly, “It’s no trouble… I mean you’re _so_ GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, and all around FANTASTIC! Least I could do is appreciating it…”

“Spinel… you’re just as amazing as I am! You’re SUPER adorable, and you might even make it into the ‘Shorty Squad…’ You can do _so_ many cool things… Stretch your limbs out… You’d beat Amethyst in a snap! And your hugs ARE like SUPER COOL, because you can hug like EVERYTHING and everyone… I can barely hug _mom_…”

“Yeah… try as she might…”

“I don’t believe _Rose_ ever succeeded… we just didn’t… hug that much – or at all… – … but maybe one day in the future, you could finally hug us at our full size… until then… You’ll just have to settle for being the baby in the hug. OR we could shrink down and hug you, either way works…”

“I think I’d be okay with that…” Stevonnie replied, smiling, “It’s just a shame I couldn’t make it into the movie…”

“A tragedy, that… like the photo with you and mom and dad from your Jungle Moon dream…”

“At least we got Opal?” They suggested, turning things towards a more positive note, “Even if it was just a song…”

“I’m surprised no one fell to Steg’s _über_ Universe charm…” Blue mused, “I certainly would’ve expected…”

“No… MOM!” Stevonnie blushed bright red, clearly uncomfortable at the thought…

“Sorry…” She smiled sheepishly as she shared a giggle with Stevonnie.

As they were, they were already feeling so much better, however, they weren’t ready for the long road that is the hiatus just yet…

“There is just _one_ last thing…”

“Hmm?” Spinel hummed as she loosened her hug on Stevonnie, allowing them space to breathe and think.

“The Rejuvenator, only Bismuth recognised it, not Pearl, Peridot, Lapis, or even Garnet…”

“As you may have surmised,” Yellow spoke up, “It was removed from service long before Era 2 came about…”

“Well that only explains Peridot… what about…”

“Dunno…” Spinel shrugged, “But I was _pretty_ helpful, even as my old ‘useless’ self.”

“Also,” Blue added, “It wasn’t exactly the most effective…”

“I know!” Stevonnie replied.

“All it took was one little thing… and boom! I guess you can’t force someone to start over, and wipe their entire past as if it were nothing… It will forever remain part of you… And even if it worked… I think we can agree that everyone’s better as they are…”

“Flaws, hardships, and all,” White added as Stevonnie nodded.

“You’ve come so far…”

“We have… thanks to you…”

No more questions were needed, for they all had more than enough to be happy and content. Besides, ‘proper’ answers will probably come eventually anyway…

**### ** **━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━** ** ###**

“So now what?” Stevonnie asked as they stood on the beach watching a setting sun, “What’re you going to do?”

“That… is a good question… But I think we have an answer, Starlight…”

“I think we might stay a while, get to know more about everything, or just relax or whatever…” Yellow and Spinel said, “Homeworld will be fine…”

“That sounds nice…” Stevonnie hugged them.

“It is… See you tomorrow?” They hugged them back.

“You bet!”

As Stevonnie made their way home, Spinel and the Diamonds giggled once more. Time had once flew by for them, but they had changed everything. Now, every second was as noticeable, remarkable, as the last; treasured for all time… Humans had a saying that time seems to speed up as one gets older, but this wasn’t the case… If anything, they had made it slow ‘back’ down to a crawl…

“Come on Spinel, let’s hit up the town, see what _cool_ stuff there is…”

“Then we can sleep?”

“Yes, then we can sleep, under the stars… together… as we wait for tomorrow, the day after that, and…”

“I’d love that… Also, in case you haven’t noticed, Steven, Stevonnie, and my name all start with the same letter in the English alphabet!”

“Huh…” Blue whispered, “Now that I think about it…”

Whether it was the hiatus or not, they would all spend their time together and happy. Spinel had decided to split her time between Earth and Homeworld, making up for lost years, together. Most of the time would be spent with Steven (or Stevonnie), watching them grow and change – no matter wherever they were –, as well as helping the diamonds, their family only continuing to expand as time went on…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so much better!

**Author's Note:**

> And this leads right back into the Hiatusverse…


End file.
